Jury reach majority verdict

Dave Lee Travis has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a researcher on the Mrs Merton Show.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court convicted him of the 1995 assault by a majority verdict of 10-2.

The court earlier heard that the 69-year-old, who was tried under his real name David Griffin, had cornered the woman while she was smoking saying it was bad for her 'poor little lungs' before stroking her rib cage and squeezing her breasts.

The alleged victim, who cannot be named, she 'froze' after Travis used her for his 'weird sexual thrill’ at the BBC studios in Manchester.

In court, Travis accused his victim of lying.

Dave Gorman – who was a writer on the show at the time – gave evidence in the trial, recalling the ‘office gossip’ of the time was that the incident had been aggressive rather than ‘a sort of Carry On film “Wahey!” which might be playful .’

Travis was today also found not guilty of indecently assaulting a woman while he was working on an Aladdin pantomime with the Chuckle Brothers in 1990, and there was no verdict on a further charge of sexually assaulting a journalist at his home in 2008.

He was cleared of a number of similar charges earlier this year, but was retried on charges which the original jury were unable to reach verdicts.

Published: 23 Sep 2014